He has no friends. Robert Mitchum plays Eddie perfectly as a chameleon who is trying to survive and who is the ultimate example of a guy who know his audience. He is a small time criminal selling guns to the mob for bank heists. He is also trying to stay out of jail since he has a hearing coming up and needs favor with a Boston detective who can help him out. He strong arms the guy who gets him the guns, shows respect to the guy who is robbing banks and pleads with the detective that he will get him information to collar someone for something hoping that would help. It’s a film about this one guy and those who are using him or being used by him. It’s a cool 70s film with good performances and sparse film-work (in a good way). what we learn ultimately is that there are a lot of circles of people around Eddie and they all want something. That cannot end well.